Had targets set up at 12 -30 feet. First was 357 subnose revolver at 12 feet. I have a lot of habits I need to break but at this distance I am spot on. Mainly I practice my draw. I use a leather belt holster that has a snap connection so j use my thumb to unsnap it as drawing. Pushing up. Practiced it many times. It feels good not awkward. At 12 feet I do not line up my sights, just point and shoot. It works. I am shooting for center mass. So I break out new gun with new holster. A bianchi that has a tab you pull down to release it. Just the opposite of what I have trained to do. Strap on new gun. Play with the release Feeling good. Step up to shoot. At 12 feet it's all about the draw. I DROP my brand new $1000 pistol. First there is silence followed by followed by a volcanic explosion of laughter. I am the gun noob in the group. Dammit.
Laughter, the best medicine. Sure hope it hit something soft, there's nothing quite to compare with polishing out self induced scratches to remind you of the "OOPS."
Some day you will show those nicks and dings and scratches and tell how they came to be. Maybe a child or grandchild will tell how they got there. Its like a record of family history. These are memories.
Funny story and sounds like something that would happen to me. But, you didn't tell us what make/model is this new $1000 pistol?
One of the best things about a revolver is that you can shoot safely low power loads. When you are learning this is especially useful since the mild recoil won't teach you any bad habits due to recoil/flinch. The shorter the barrel the greater the recoil, and the geometry of a revolver makes felt recoil even worse. It's amazing how "defense" accurate you can be with your sight picture being the top of the pistol and not through the sights themselves as you have learned. Consider some reactive shooting to help you learn to quickly get on target in a dynamically changing environment. Try to learn to shoot with both eyes open and train yourself not to blink when you fire it. Also, have you friends do some dry firing and have them tell you what they think of the trigger. One reason I was able to shoot my 44 magnum back in the day was that it had an exceptional trigger. Even in DA I could pull the trigger to just the point where it broke and then just a little extra pressure and it had a very clean break.
Slow and steady is the way to learn the instinctive shooting, building muscle memory and pointing the barrel like it was an extension of your index finger. Of course your grip is critical, it must be consistent as you probably know! Sights are unnecessary out to about 20 feet.
No worries, most of us shooters have been there at one time or other. Just remember: Slow is Smoothe,Smoothe is Fast and Accuracy is Final..
Sand. Pistol unscathed. Pride indelibly scratched. Friends' memories priceless Somethings Visa can't buy
Really....really. I rather have sex tapes of me made public showing my wife laughing at me for wearing a gorilla suit. I would become a meme. The video would be watched be every respectable hunter and shooter worldwide. Walking into a gun store they would give whistle on a chain instead. Would have to leave the country. Might go to Russia....wait they have gun guys. Can't go there. I guess a deserted island where there will nothing to eat but coconut and nothing to do but hang out with my coconut girlfriend
That is good advice. The thought process behind buying .357 was, no jam to clear, easy to conceal and it's a cannon and with fancy fragmenting bullets way lethal. Started practicing my draw. First empty at home and then loaded while shooting. Thought about my grip and what was most comfortable. Started shooting at 15 feet. Was told that is the distance to train at. Then at 20 which was much more difficult . Surprisingly difficult. Shot stacks of boxes and got really good. Got fast and accurate at 15 feet. Would practice pushing off something solid, falling back bracing with my non-shooting hand so I would have time to draw. Learned it from a friend. Practiced and shot often but just with the type of gun. Definitely shot others but just screwing around. But that was it. I was comfortable in so far as protecting my family went, got good grappling skills and some solid kempo. My family was safe. As most of you everywhere i went with the clan i was always looking for threats. I practiced situational awareness. I was the protector....and still am But that was yesterday, last week, last year. Now I need to step it up.
If I showed up with anyone of those I would be given a real talking to. Colt 1991 government. I know I I over paid but it's the penalty you pay when you too slow. I paid $30/ for 5 7 rds mag. $150. AND $300 for 200rds in green MTM boxes that he said are new and not reloaded. He threw in the holster imo because he had fleeced me enough. There is nothing in our stores it sells too quick. Rather over pay than deal with the frustration of the hunt
Honestly, you need to get yourself some good professional pistol training. (I am not saying this to be cruel.) How, the heck, do you drop a pistol with a grip safety on it? The answer is that you did not begin your draw by gripping the pistol properly in the first place! Your posts remind me of that famous quote in Tom Cruise’s ‘The Last Samurai’ movie: “Too many mind!” Right now, moving too fast and without your proprioceptive reflexes properly conditioned and dialed-in isn’t going to do anything to prolong either your own lifespan or the longevity of those around you. As for myself? I’ve been shooting pistols for more than a half century and, not once, have I ever dropped a C-1 pistol—Not even when I, myself, was shot. (That’s just ‘nutz’, my friend!) Besides, the described scenario is a pistol instructor’s worst nightmare. When I was still actively teaching, I frequently found myself worrying about students who were overeager to impress, and strove to exceed their own undisciplined and (consequently) uncoordinated gun handling skills. Many pistol shooters will make an effort to perfect their trigger finger skills by frequently practicing with snap caps. Well, things are the same for learning how to set your hand on a pistol’s frame and acquire a reliable (and unwavering) grip, as well. What you need to teach your body how to do is to correctly grab a pistol’s frame in exactly the same way, every time; and this sort of practice is NOT a learning exercise that should be carried out with a loaded gun! From more than a half century of doing these things I know that: (1) Your mind (and proprioceptive reflexes) were not either target, or weapon focused; and (2) your grip was completely off from the very first moment you attempted to grab your gun. THAT is a potentially very dangerous situation for both you and everyone else around you! Here’s a couple of more ‘clues’ for you: First of all, don’t waste your valuable training time by practicing self-defense gunfighting at distances of less than 8 yards. In fact, 10 to 12 yard engagement distances are the usual competence level that I encourage students to achieve; and, second, if a pistolero is not competent to engage a potentially lethal opponent at distances between 12 and 18 yards then, as far as this old gunman is concerned, any such pistolero is NOT adequately trained to SURVIVE during a close quarter handgun event. Why? The answer is simple; so simple, that most gunmen completely overlook the correct answer: First of all, the differences between a pistol ambush need to be distinguished from an actual CQB pistol gunfight. The one is NOT equal to the other. Second, by waiting to draw and fire you are, in reality, agreeing to engage the other gunman ON HIS OWN TERMS OF LETHAL CONFRONTATION rather than on your own! While the ‘old saw’ about CQB pistol gunfights occurring ‘3 x 3 x 3’ is bureaucratic bullhooey, the reality is that if one of these belligerent social psychopaths can’t succeed in successfully ambushing you then, for certain, he is going to seek to engage you by: (1) drawing first, and (2) firing upon you from within his own CIRCLE OF GUNFIGHTING COMPETENCE. Now, for most of the world’s population, this circle of engagement is going to have a functional operating diameter of no more than 8 yards—8 yards, and 5 yards is not uncommon! (Yes, I am telling you to stop thinking about CQB self-defense gunfighting in terms of feet. If you want to survive your first real world gunfight then, here, your thinking needs to be expanded!) Finally, what is the ‘King Of All Pistol Drills’—The one pistol training exercise that you should practice regularly? That would be Senior Firearms Training Instructor George Harris’ ‘Wall Drill’. Here it is: Wall Drill Dry Practice And here's me on a good day: 16 yards, rapid fire, (with a Glock Model 21 held in my right hand).
